St Peter's has an early 12thc. nave and W tower. Aisles were added to the nave in the mid (N arcade) to late (S arcade) 12thc. The original clerestorey is still visible in the aisles, but the roof was raised and new windows installed in the 14thc. The top storey of the tower is 15thc. The chancel and its arch date from the 13thc., and there is a large N chapel, added in 1367. Attached to the S of the chancel is a 13thc. treasury. The church is faced with irregular ashlar blocks. Described here are the corbels, bell-openings and arcading of the tower, the tower arch and the nave arcades.

A confirmation of the grant of lands to Peterborough (Medeshamstede) by Wulfhere, king of Mercia, in 664 includes Maxey, but this is generally thought to be a post-Conquest forgery. Like most of the Peterborough villages it does not appear in the Domesday Survey.

Benefice of Etton with Helpston and Maxey.

The tower arch is by the Castor and Sutton workshop (see foliage forms and sawtooth bases), here dated to c. 1100-10. The tower decoration too is a simplified form of that at Castor and the corbels appear to be by the same workshop. The nave arcades date from the middle of the 12thc., with the S arcade stylistically later than the N. The capital forms of the S arcade, including the zig-zag scallops, also appear in the N arcade at nearby Peakirk.